TNAB Trip report for Mirror Lake 7/3/2003

Date: July 3, 2003
Hike: Mirror Lake, Tinkham Pk, and Abial Pk
Route: Split party approached the lake from Twin Lakes and Lost Lake. Tinkham climbed by the southeast ridge bushwack trail. Abial climbed the following day from the saddle with Silver.
Attendees: Joan, Larry, Matt, Gretchen, Mark, Suji, Tara, Phil
Comments: Gorgeous evening for an overnight!

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Photo Credits: Matt K

Matt's Hike Summary: Slumber Party At Mirror Lake

The weather, as I'm sure you remember, was absolutely gorgeous. We split into two groups on the approach with half the party coming in from the Lost Lake entrance and the rest of us doing the climb up from Twin Lake. The twin lake trail is slightly overgrown but otherwise in good condition and meets up with the PCT after about 1500 ft of gain. The sun had already set behind Tinkham, and a stiff breeze was blowing which tended to discourage any ideas of swimming, but at least the breeze kept the mosquitos to a dull roar. We dropped our gear at the south end of the lake and left Suji and Tara trying to make sense of the tent they had borrowed while the rest of us took the bushwhack trail up Tinkham. The trail is sporadically blazed, and somewhat visible, but we managed to lose it a few times anyway. Route finding isn't too difficult though; if you wander off to the north you'll fall off a cliff, and if you wander off to the south you're greeted by a barrage of "No Trespassing! Cedar River Watershed" signs. We contemplated the irony of filling a Nalgene in Seattle and then hauling the water back up to the source again. Views from Tinkham were fantastic! Very clear once again and lots of peaks visible. Also visible were a couple very small lakes at the base of Tinkham and an orange tent at one of them. Phil claimed that the lakes were supposed to be good fishing, although why I couldn't imagine given the size. Wind was pretty nippy on top so we headed back down for quesadillas, and to quench our thirst with hot cocoa laced with Kahlua and Rumple Minze, or Irish Cream and Rumple Minze - a mighty fine combination either way. The mosquitos were pretty intent on quenching their thirst as well, but the deet was a reasonable deterrent. Tara had brought pink peep rabbits which we toasted (and torched) over my MSR dragonfly since we had been too lazy to build a proper fire.

Morning was also fantastic weather and people wandered off at various times. Gretchen and I wandered over to Abial peak. Trail on this one is maybe a tad better than Tinkham, although we took the longer way up to the saddle with Silver, over the bump and back down again instead of the very thin contouring trail which runs above the lake and avoids the bump. On our way back we met the owner of the orange tent we had seen the night before. He was out with his two daughters (in the 8-12 yo range) and carrying fishing gear, so apparently other people think there's fish in the lakes as well. He hadn't managed to catch any though. They were quite impressed that we had been on top of the cliffs looking down at them the night before, even after I explained that there is an easier way up than the cliff face.

all in all a fine hike and a nice start to the holiday weekend.
MK